one week down...

What a difference a few days can make! It’s now Friday, and things are so much better in terms of my homesickness and my settling in. I’m almost set now with appliances in my room. All I need now is a mini fridge, so I can stop using a bag hanging out my window as one. Laura got me a microwave and is getting me a hot plate to borrow (the one in the cuisinette is upstairs and it’s a little out of the way and I think I will eventually spill my pot full of whatever all over myself due to the obstacle course that is before me as I try to get back to my room). Michelle gave me some clothesline so I’ve hung that up in my room. I did laundry for the first time the other day and again today. I need to do a little bit at a time, because I don’t have that much line. It’s weird doing laundry in the sink, but it’s not too bad. I’ve realized that there are so many things I take for granted at home, like a washer and dryer and also an oven. I was thinking the other day of making a pizza, but unless I want to cook it in the mirowave, that’s a no-go…

My appetite has come back in full force now, which I’m grateful for. I’m trying new things all the time (mostly they’re desserts, bread, cheese and wine, which I make no apologies for: I’m in France!). The other day I tried a macaron, a Bordeaux (or France) specialty, and yesterday I tried a briochette, a pastry bun topped with melted butter and big sugar granules. Yesterday I bought my first cheese since I got here. For starters I’m trying Roquefort and Chèvre doux (mild goat cheese), which are both amazing and so cheap (2,00€ for a package that would normally cost around $7 or 8.00 at home!). The wine here is incredibly cheap, too: I bought a white wine from the coast of Gascogne for 1,15€, which is roughly $2.00 CDN. I’m still in disbelief that these things are so inexpensive, but I’m not complaining, that’s for sure! Baguettes are also my new favourite thing. Everyone makes sandwiches with them here. Mmm, baguettes!

I’ve been here now for 10 days, and it’s seemed like a very long 10 days. It’s been an emotional roller coaster, but I think I’m actually going to survive. It still hasn’t really sunk in that I’ll be here for 4 more months. I still feel kind of like I’m on vacation, exploring a new city and all. But I think once school starts, that will help to establish some routine in my life and I’ll feel less like I’m floating around. It has been a long process adapting to new things, and I know that it’s not over, but I’m excited that I’m actually in a country where I get to practise my French. I have no excuse not to.

Tomorrow, Michelle and I are going to Spain for the day with her friend Bertrand, who is French and lives in Bordeaux (you have to specify which area you live here, because there’s Bordeaux the city and then all the surrounding suburb areas. The university campus is actually spread out over Pessac, Talence, and Gradignan). He has a car, so that’s a bonus. It feels weird to say that I’m going to Spain “for the day”, but since it’s so close, it’s possible. I’ll tell you all about my day trip when I get back. Also next week, I may be going to England with Carly (another girl from UofW who just arrived) and Michelle (if she wants to come too). I think we’ll be leaving on Monday and return on the weekend. I would like to visit my penpal and see London, and since there’s still a week and a half until school starts, why not?

Slowly I’m buying little things for myself and room that I didn’t bring with me. I went out and bought some gerber daisies to liven up my room, but after 3 days they are looking so pitiful that I think I may need to throw them out (which sucks but I guess it is winter here; maybe I didn’t take care of them enough though). I bought a pan and a lid and a saladier (a salad bowl, aka a bigger bowl than what I had already) yesterday, along with a corkscrew and a little rubber dish for my soap that says “savon”. Prices here are comparable to prices in Winnipeg, except on taco kits, which are in the foreign food aisle (along with peanut butter!) and cost around 7 or 8,00€. One thing I’ve noticed here is you don’t see a lot of jumbo sizes like you do in Canada. They also like little packages of everything. It’s way cheaper to buy a pack of 10 of the little packages of kleenex (I bought one for 0,69€) than it is to buy a box.

Other peculiarities about this country: all the flushers for the toilet are either on top of the tank and you have to pull up or above the toilet and you have to push the button. I’ve also seen a few instances of a huge rectangular button to push. Bathroom stalls have full doors to the floor, too, and usually have a light switch in the stall. Most of the TP that’s sold in stores is coloured and scented, but in public washrooms as well as on campus here, the TP is white and unscented. There are no toilet seats anywhere on campus… pretty strange. OK, I’ve just written a whole paragraph about bathrooms. Something else unrelated to bathrooms: the stop signs here actually say “STOP”, but there are no four-way stop signs, because every intersection either has a roundabout or traffic lights.

Well, I think that’s all I have to say for my second official installment of my blog since I’ve been in France. I’ve included a couple of pictures: the first is a picture of the gutter system here (everything drains to the middle of the street); the second is for all my fellow Parking Authority coworkers (the paystations are almost the same! But a lot of people park half on the sidewalks too); the third one I just think is humourous. I saw it near the Jardin public (Public Garden) for people walking their dogs. The last one is in the Jardin public. It’s a huge park and I saw palm trees there! I think it’ll be a lot prettier in the spring. I’ll take some more pictures then. I just think it's neat that I’m in a place where palm trees can survive.’Til next time, then!